Expandable baffles may be used in pillar structures of vehicles to reduce noise that may attenuate in the pillars during operation of the vehicles. For example, an expandable baffle may employ an expandable material that expands to generally fill a cross-section of a cavity or pillar structure, thereby reducing the transmission of noise through the pillar.
Increasingly, vehicle manufacturers use pillar structures of vehicles for routing hoses or other lines between a roof structure of the vehicle and areas of a vehicle beneath the pillars. This results in difficulties during assembly and/or service of the vehicles, as the baffles typically must obstruct substantially all of a particular cross-section of the pillar cavity in order to provide desired noise attenuation, and thereby may also obstruct passage of a hose or line through the same cross-section.
Baffles have therefore been developed that provide a tunnel or passage for hoses or other lines to be routed through, around which an expandable baffle seals the space between the aperture and the pillar structure. Baffles have been developed with body structures defining a passageway for a drain hose or other line, but such baffles necessarily lose a portion of their noise attenuation capabilities due to the open passage. A more recent baffle construction includes two flap portions that are initially locked in a closed position, thereby obstructing the passage. The flaps may be unlocked and opened during assembly of the vehicle, when a drain hose is inserted through the aperture, thereby releasing the locking mechanism and allowing passage of the drain hose through the baffle assembly.
A difficulty still exists, however, should it be necessary to remove the drain tube, such as when a tube or line is incorrectly installed, or must be removed or replaced, e.g., for service. The flaps of the above-described baffle, once unlocked, cannot be accessed in the pillar to re-lock the flaps together. As a result, noise transmission through the pillar increases as a result of the open passage through the baffle. The locking mechanism may also be subject to inadvertent opening in vehicles where it is desired to remain closed, e.g., vehicles that do not have certain options requiring the placement of a drain hose or line in the pillar structure, resulting in the same increase in noise transmission.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved baffle that offers increased resistance to potential manufacturing errors and additional flexibility to allow for selective insertion and removal of lines or hoses in a pillar, while offering robust noise attenuation.